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Suspected IS members charged with plotting terrorist attacks in Russia — security service

YEKATERINBURG, February 17. /TASS/. Seven alleged members of the Islamic State terrorist group, who were detained in early February on suspicions of plotting terrorist attacks in Russia, have been officially charged, the Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) said on Wednesday.

According to the press service of the FSB regional branch in the Sverdlovsk region, in the Urals, all seven suspects have been charged" told TASS.

Last Monday, the FSB said it detained had seven alleged IS members in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg who supposedly had prepared to carry out "high-profile terrorist attacks" in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Sverdlovsk region.

A district court in Yekaterinburg arrested the suspects for two months.

The group, consisting of citizens of Russia and Central Asian states, was presumably led by an IS member who had arrived from Turkey, the FSB said.

During the searches in the suspects’ houses, a laboratory for manufacturing explosive devices was uncovered. The officers reportedly found electric detonators, firearms, grenades, bomb components and extremist literature.

According to the Federal Security Service, the suspects planned to later leave for Syria to join combat actions as part of the IS group.